Waitrose slammed for 90-minute parking time limit

A Maidenhead woman who got a parking fine for taking more than 90 minutes to shop with her elderly father in Waitrose has called for a better solution.

Last week, Rosalind Bieber from Belmont got an unexpected parking notice from Britannia Parking, which enforces parking outside the Waitrose in Maidenhead.

The £70 fine was for parking for more than 90 minutes in the car park – the store’s limit. This related to a shopping trip Rosalind had made with her father on December 17.

“I was completely unaware that the time limit was 90 minutes,” she said. “It’s not very well signed, or we’d have seen it.

“It took a little while to get where we wanted to park. It was quite busy, being so close to Christmas, it was a bigger shop than usual, and I had to do my dad’s, as well.”

Rosalind frequently helps her father with his shopping, as he is 88 and he can be unsteady on his feet.

“On top of that, they’d had a complete refit. I couldn’t’ find what I was looking for and my dad was getting a bit stressed,” she said.

That all added to the extra time, meaning more than 90 minutes passed in the store and car park.

“I don’t go there now,” said Rosalind. “My dad can’t rush. I go [elsewhere] so I can do stress-free shopping with him.”

When Rosalind raised the parking notice with Waitrose staff, she was assisted in getting the fine waived.

“Going forward, I have been advised to make customer service aware of my situation with my dad and this will prevent ongoing issues,” Rosalind said.

“But I don’t want to have to keep going to the desk every time I shop with him. They’re busy at the desk – you can have a queue situation.

“I think they have lost quite a few customers from what I’ve read on the [Nextdoor] thread. They’re not thinking about the customers.”

Indeed, after Rosalind shared her experiences on social media, multiple other people piled on to say they also avoid the shop because they ‘don’t want the hassle’.

Rosalind added: “Waitrose needs to put something in place to encourage genuine Waitrose customers to shop at their store.

“For example, a ticketing machine like [the one] they have at Tesco in Slough. You have a barcode on your receipt [and] you enter it on the parking machine before you exit the car park.

“If [Waitrose] can afford to refurbish their supermarket, surely they could implement something like this.”

A spokesperson for Waitrose said: “The new system is designed to ensure that we continue to look after our customers who have found it difficult to find spaces because of the increasing pressure our car park has come under, especially during busy trading times.

“While most customers have not experienced any issues with this change, we understand that on occasion there are certain circumstances where our customers may need longer than the allotted time period. When this is the case, we kindly ask them to talk to one of our partners on the Welcome Desk.”